At 14:05 hours IST - the buying in infrastructure, oil & gas, banking, realty and metal stocks strengthened the markets. Positive European markets were also being supportive to our markets. The Sensex was moving towards the 15000 mark while the Nifty was inching towards the 4450 level.

Reliance Industries, ONGC, DLF, BHEL, Jindal Steel, Axis Bank, Sterlite, NTPC, SAIL, SBI, ICICI Bank, L&T and HDFC Bank were leading counters, gained 1.5-8%. However, the selling in Infosys, ITC, TCS, HDFC, Tata Motors, Suzlon, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Grasim and Idea was putting pressure on the markets as well as adding to the volatility.

The Sensex went up 157 points, to 14,922 and the Nifty gained 55 points at 4,430. About 918 shares advanced while 310 shares declined on the NSE. Broader indices were up 1.8-2%.

On the sectoral front, BSE Realty, Metal, Oil & Gas, Bank, Power and Capital Goods indices gained 2-4%. However, IT Index slipped 1%.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher. The FTSE was up 26 points, to 4,267. The CAC rose 21 points, to 3,150 and the DAX gained 35 points at 4,810.

Corporate News

Bombay HC approved RIL-RPL merger with 4-week stay. Both stocks were up over 3%.

Welspun Gujarat is going to bag Rs 1,000 crore overseas order, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. The stock gained 4%.

Gremach Infra will raise up to $100 million; the stock locked at 5% upper circuit.

BHEL was up 2.5%. The company received order worth Rs 170 crore from Chennai Petro.

On the next page - see how Indian markets performed in the last couple of hours